Dyer’s Four TDs Lead M-S Football to 49-0 Shutout Over Effingham, Clinching Fourth Straight Apollo Conference Title

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour’s football team achieved perfection on Friday (Oct. 11) with its first-half possessions at Effingham.

The Bulldogs’ offense took the field six times before intermission and quarterback Lucas Dyer directed an attack that scored six touchdowns before halftime during the team’s third successive Apollo Conference road game.

The offensive outburst led to a 42-0 lead at intermission in a game that featured a running clock during the final two quarters of M-S’ 49-0 victory.

Effingham was the final Apollo team in contention for a conference championship.

M-S struck first with Dyer hitting three different receivers for scores in the first 9 minutes and 8 seconds.

“I’ve been around a lot of good quarterbacks, but I don’t know if I have ever been around a better true quarterback,” M-S coach Jon Adkins said. “He’s special. He understands the game.

“He knows who will be open before they are open.”

Dyer and Bryson Tiefenthaler teamed up for a 57-yard score to open the game’s scoring. It was Tiefenthaler’s first varsity TD.

The next scoring strike went to Ray Long on a 16-yard pass play. The final points of the first period were on a 53-yard toss to Gavin Hammerschmidt.

“Our wide outs had a great week of preparation and I credit our offensive line for giving Lucas time to find them,” Adkins said. “The way they played their coverage, a lot of man-on-man, we went into the game wanting to throw the ball.

“We put guys in spots where they could take advantage.”

The Bulldogs put the game out of reach by scoring twice within 37 seconds in the second stanza.

At the 10:18 mark, Cade Ashby – who has at least one rushing touchdown in each of the team’s first seven games – ran 19 yards for a TD.

Jackson Davis’ ensuing kickoff landed in the end zone, giving the Flaming Hearts possession at the 20-yard line.

The center snap then sailed over the Effingham quarterback’s head and Henry Wagner recovered for M-S.

On the next play, Ashby crashed through the goal line on a 1-yard score.

“That took the wind out of their sails,” Adkins said. “Down 21-0, they felt they could fight back, but all of a sudden it was 35-0.”

M-S added one more first-half score, a 7-yard Dyer-to-Tiefenthaler completion for a TD at 4:23 before intermission.

Those points created a second-half running clock.

Effinhgam’s Weldon Dunson IV – who entered the game as the state’s leading rusher with 1,377 yards – was limited to 20 yards on 12 carries.

In his first six games of the year, he had exceeded 100 yards in every contest and was averaging 230 yards rushing per game.

Dunson’s longest gain against M-S was for 6 yards.

“That’s two years in a row we have done that against him,” Adkins said. “Our defense is getting better week after week.

“We played good football on both sides of the ball and on special teams. I can’t remember a team playing this consistently good across the board.

“Our defensive staff is doing an incredible job and the kids are executing in practice. What that defense goes against in our offense is the best they see each week.”

Adkins said he didn’t have a specific player assigned to Dunson. He did, however, have Cade Harrell track the Effingham tight end.

“They try to overload to a certain side, so we had to account for their tight end,” Adkins said. “Our six box players did what they did; make sure they were swarming and wrapping.

“We had Brock (VanDeveer) in the middle of the field playing the cut-back lane.”

In Week 4, the Bulldog staff shifted VanDeveer to more of a strong safety and inserted Beau Back into the lineup as a linebacker.

“We knew Beau had the physical toughness and mindset to play,” Adkins said. “He had a tremendous game.”

Back logged a team-high seven tackles. Wagner had five stops. A,J. Demos, Ethan Esker and Noah Frank all ended with four tackles. Talon Decker and Slayton Deck contributed three tackles apiece.

Freshman Jayvon Tompkins continues to be a force upfront at noseguard.

“He is so hard to block and demands double- and triple-teams,” Adkins said, “and two-year starters Esker and Wagner are on both sides of Beau and help him out more.”

Adkins said it was important not to focus so much attention on Dunson that they were burned elsewhere.

“The game plan going in was to take care of Dunson, but be ready for what’s next,” Adkins said. “We felt good that we had everything else covered.

“Our kids executed the game plan really well. As long as they continue to play as physical and with as much effort, we could do something special this year.”

The factors leading to the second-half running clock was not lost on Adkins.

“The reason for the 42-0 halftime lead was our Scout Team,” Adkins said. “Cody Moen pretended to be Dunson.

“My message at halftime was that because of what the Scout Team put in to prepare our starters, the reward in turn was for those kids to play the entire second half in a conference championship game.

“That is pretty special.”

The only second-half points were courtesy of a Wade Manuel 3-yard run in the third quarter.

Manuel rushed for a team-best 38 yards. Ashby gained 32 yards on the ground and Moen added 25 rushing yards.

Dyer – who moved into the state’s top 10 for passing yards this season – hit 15 of 24 passes for 331 yards and the four TDs. Dyer has 1,845 passing yards through seven games, an average of 263 yards per contest.

The receiving yardage was spread out between Tiefenthaler (122 yards on five catches), Hammerschmidt (102 yards on five catches), Mason Orton (91 yards on four catches) and Long (16 yards on his one reception).

Davis converted on all seven of his extra-point attempts in the game to raise his school-record total for consecutive conversions to 24.

One Bulldog, backup lineman Liam Jessup, suffered a knee injury and his status has not been determined.

M-S (5-2) returns to Frank Dutton Field for its regular-season home-finale on Friday (Oct. 18) against Mattoon (2-5).

Mattoon is coming off a 21-7 loss to Taylorville.

M-S has won 22 consecutive Apollo Conference games and is trying to complete its fourth straight unbeaten season in league play. The Bulldogs have already earned the outright conference title for the 2024 season in football.

The Senior Night contest will be a special one for the Bulldogs.

Adkins plans on starting all 22 seniors, as has been his custom.

“When I was on the basketball team my senior year (at Charleston High School) and the coach let me be a starter, to hear your name announced is a special moment,” Adkins said. “If I get the chance, I will give the kid that opportunity, and what a special opportunity it is.

“This is always a special week. We call it Senior Week.”

Fourteen M-S seniors are normally starters.

The ones who will be in the lineup at the outset against Mattoon are, on defense, Clayton Crowley (end), Kaleb Collins (secondary), Jack Jessup (secondary) and Hayden Hart (line).

Added to the offensive unit for Friday are Adain Crull (right guard), Brayden Lamb (right tackle) and Noah Scott (H-back).

Also joining his teammates on the field will be wide receiver Trey Peters – who committed to the University of Illinois on Sunday. Peters is out for the season after suffering a knee injury in Week 3 that will require surgery in 10 days.

Adkins won’t risk a further injury to the 6-foot-5 Peters.

“We are going to take a knee on the very first play and get him off the field,” Adkins said.

The other M-S seniors who play regularly are Channing Byers (tight end), A.J. Demos (defensive back), Lucas Dyer (quarterback), Ethan Esker (linebacker), Tyson Finch (center), Brayden Garrett (defensive back), Gavin Hammerschmidt (receiver), Cade Harrell (defensive back), Ray Long (receiver), Kolton Metcalf-Poulos (offensive tackle), Mason Orton (receiver), Brock VanDeveer (linebacker), Henry Wagner (linebacker), and Connor Wilson (defensive back).